The queen’s image

Elizabeth’s parsimony did not extend to personal adornments. She possessed a vast repertory of fantastically elaborate dresses and rich jewels. Her passion for dress was bound up with political calculation and an acute self-consciousness about her image. She tried to control the royal portraits that circulated widely in England and abroad, and her appearances in public were dazzling displays of wealth and magnificence. Throughout her reign she moved restlessly from one of her palaces to another—Whitehall, Nonsuch, Greenwich, Windsor, Richmond, Hampton Court, and Oatlands—and availed herself of the hospitality of her wealthy subjects. On her journeys, known ... (100 of 6,424 words)